As part of Non-GMO Month, I answered questions about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), why we should care about them, and the events and activities of the GMO Free Project of Tucson for an interview in the October edition of Natural Awakenings magazine. You can read the interview in “The Right to Know about What We Grow.”

Ninety percent of Americans want foods that are genetically modified labeled. Yet efforts to pass GMO (genetically modified organism) labeling bills in 20 different states have been unsuccessful, either because politicians have been making the decisions or because corporations that make genetically modified seeds such as Monsanto have threatened to sue states such as Vermont if they passed the bills. In other words, what the American people want hasn’t been carried out so far.

If you haven’t paid much attention to genetically modified foods so far, perhaps the horrifying results of the first long-term animal study on GMOs will get you to take notice and opt out of the feeding experiment we all unknowingly have been in.

A lifetime diet containing Roundup-tolerant genetically modified (GM) corn, or Roundup weedkiller at levels currently considered safe, can cause tumors and multiple organ damage and lead to premature death in laboratory rats, according to research published online in September in the scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology.